In a surgical robotic system, a robotic arm that has a surgical tool attached to it its distal end is remotely operated by a surgeon. Applications include endoscopic surgery, which involves looking into a patient's body and performing surgery inside, for example the abdominal cavity, using endoscopes and other surgical tools that are attached to the ends of several robotic arms. The system gives the surgeon a close-up view of the surgery site, and also lets the surgeon operate the tool that is attached to the arm, all in real-time. The tool may be a gripper with jaws, a cutter, a video camera, or an energy emitter such as a laser used for coagulation. The tool is thus controlled in a precise manner with high dexterity in accordance with the surgeon manipulating a handheld controller.
In a typical surgical robotic session, there may be up to five arms that need to be ready for being deployed at a surgical robotic platform, such as a table or bed on which the patient is resting. Installed within each arm is a communications interface for receiving robotic commands from, and providing for example video data to, a computerized, surgical console at which the surgeon sits while viewing a display screen that shows the surgical site and while manipulating the hand controller. Also installed within each arm is arm joint driver and control circuitry, and tool driver and control circuitry; the arm joint driver and control circuitry can drive several motorized joints (actuators) to pivot or translate various links of the arm so that the distal end of the arm is moved to a desired position as dictated by a user command; the tool driver and control circuitry can drive for example a gripper or cutter actuator or an energy emitter in the surgical tool (as dictated by a user command.) Electrical power that supplies the communications interface and the arm joint and tool driver and control circuitry may be delivered to the arm, via a power cable that is separate from the arm but connected to the arm at one end and to the surgical robotic platform at another end (e.g., to a power supply at the surgical table.) Alternatively, power may delivered to the arm through the use of pogo pins that come into electrical contact at a physical interface between the arm and an arm adapter at the robotic platform, when the arm is attached to the arm adapter.